James Brown Live At The Apollo, 1962 [Live]

Oddly unsung in Britain despite it's status as James Brown's bestselling record, 'Live at Apollo' disappoints only in it's sub-40 minute running time. Recorded when he was a raw talent, rather than an established name, the record showcases his phenomenal voice perfectly. Like Sam Cooke's 'Live at Harlem Sq. Club' (which is even better), the singer is shown in context- not softened by studio production, but in his element- giving it his all in front of a notoriously difficult audience, which he soon wins over. Fats Gonder's oft-parodied and/or homaged introduction is wisely included, and the first three numbers sound great. It is with 'Lost Someone', though, that James Brown finds his voice. "I feel so I good I wanna scream!", he shouts, "I feel just like I wanna scream!". "Go ahead and scream!", comes the reply.

"OOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!"

And in that moment James Brown moved from flavour-of-the-month to soul legend. The record met with extraordinary success in America, in both critical and commercial terms, and was lauded by Britain's New Musical Express, some thirty years on, as the '30th Greatest Record of All Time'. Strange then, that few supposed soul afficionados I've spoken to are aware of this record's existence, let alone it's genius. When 'Live at Apollo' was recorded, James Brown was a man at the peak of his powers, if not of his public recognition- and it shows. If 'Night Train' is a slightly low-key closer, the medley which precedes it more than compensates- a lust-filled, yearning, aching nine-minute medley of rare quality. One of THE great soul records, a priceless artefact, and for many, an undiscovered gem.

Nobody, not I, nor any other music reviewer, can really do justice to this recording. It is without doubt one of the greatest live recordings ever made, and has of the most emotional, vibrant and soul seeking vocal performances, you will ever hear. It will take you to new limits in your understanding of music...it will expose feelings you never knew you could feel for music...and it may make you cry.It did me...
Just follow these instructions;
1)Buy CD
2)Listen...then wonder what the fuss is about.
3)Listen again.
4)Clear your house of wife, kids and take phones off hook. Turn off lights, and play LOUD.
The result will astound you. You owe it to yourself...BUY IT!!!!

Every time I hear an ad on the box for "(Any current British comic) at the Apollo" I groan a little inwardly. To me the Apollo was THE venue in New York for black performers of popular music. To quote Wikipedia, "The Apollo Theater in New York City is one of the most famous music halls in the United States, and the most famous club associated almost exclusively with Black performers". This is what the Apollo really means and this is how history will see it.

More specifically I think of this album.

As a near slavish follower - I can admit it now! - of the new cult of R&B in the mid 60's I was one of that fairly small number who bought this one on vinyl . And I'll further admit that I had mixed feelings about it. To anyone used to the more familiar soul artists - Cooke, Burke, Pickett, Redding - this was much more extreme. It was also the first time we'd heard such a show live so the showbiz aspects of the intros and the playing to the audience, were new to us. Some of us would have seen some of the touring rockers from the US but none of these performances had been committed to wax (apart from Jerry Lee's great gig at the Star Club, Hamburg, though the album which committed that to posterity wasn't to come out till `64).

Another part of my hesitant reaction to the album was near total lack of familiarity with the material it contained. Apart from Mike Raven playing the Godfather of Soul, no one on the radio played him (it didn't help that hardly any of his records had come out in the UK either). Mind you it didn't take long for the passion and intensity to win me over - I found that turning the volume up did help! If I compare it now to the recent compilation of Brown's 1956 to 1960 material (on Fantastic Voyage), the band had tightened up considerably and there was much more oomph on the material which appeared on both.

In some respects this record - `cos I still think of it as that - is more important as a slab of history than a listening experience. No one had done anything like this on record before. It was an alien experience when first heard - the drawn out "Lost Someone" in particular with James "playing" the audience was a whole new thing. It's difficult to relate to that now. Having said that I'd still recommend having this one in your collection so that you can get it out every now and again, stick the headphones on and turn the volume up.